Environmental Strategy and Competitiveness : An examination of the Swedish construction industry

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to study how the process of introducing an environmental strategy has led to competitiveness in the Swedish construction industry. Previous research in the area indicated that there was insufficient empirical evidence in the field and this study hopes to increase the empirical understanding for the relation between the concepts.Research conducted was of qualitative nature and the semi-structured interview was used to gather information from Sweden's three largest construction companies. Managers from the environmental department in the three companies were chosen as respondents and their views on the company's environmental strategy was formed and its relation to competitiveness was captured.The results of the study reviled that the companies have not had a clear relation to competitiveness when developing their environmental strategies and consequently have found it hard to differentiate themselves for their competitors. It was also found that the environmental strategy mainly developed through the pressure of external forces and that there was a lack of internal initiative to include elements of competitiveness into the strategy.